Japanese figure skating champions Shoma Uno and Kaori Sakamoto earned the United States Sports Academy’s Athlete of the Month honors after their impressive performances capturing the men’s and women’s singles titles at the World Figure Skating Championships in March.
Uno won his first world title at the competition in France on 26 March 2022. Uno won with a total score of 312.48 to hold off compatriot Yuma Kagiyama, who took silver.
Sakamoto won the women’s singles world title at the competition in France on 25 March 2022. Sakamoto finished with a total score of 236.09 and led throughout the competition after triumphing in the short program.
The second place finisher on the men’s side was Swedish pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis and third place went to American tennis player Taylor Fritz.
Duplantis set a world indoor record and won his first world title with a pole vault height of 6.20 meters in Belgrade at the World Athletics Indoor World Championships on 20 March 2022.
Fritz stunned Spain’s Rafael Nadal in the championship final to win the men’s singles title at the Indian Wells Masters on 20 March 2022. Fritz defeated Nadal 6-3, 7-6 after playing through an ankle problem.
The second place finisher on the women’s side was Ukrainian high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh and third place went to Polish tennis player Iga Swiatek.
Mahuchikh won the women’s world indoor high jump gold with a leap of 2.02 meters during the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade on 19 March 2022. Prior to the competition, Mahuchikh fled to Serbia from her native town of Dnipro following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Swiatek defeated Greece’s Maria Sakkari 6-4, 6-1 in the championship final to win the women’s singles title at the Indian Wells Masters tournament in California on 20 March 2022. It was Swiatek’s 11th consecutive victory.
Each month, the public is invited to participate in the Academy’s worldwide Athlete of the Month program by nominating athletes and then voting online during the first week of every month. The online votes are used to guide the Academy selection committee in choosing the male and female monthly winners, who then become eligible for selection to the prestigious Athlete of the Year ballot. A worldwide public vote on the annual ballot is used to guide the committee in making the final selection.
The Athlete of the Year Award is part of the United States Sports Academy’s Awards of Sport program, which each year serves as “A Tribute to the Artist and the Athlete.” The Academy presents the awards to pay tribute to those who have made significant contributions to sport, in categories as diverse as the artist and the athlete in several different arenas of sport.
The awards honor exemplary achievement in coaching, all-around athletic performance, courage, humanitarian activity, fitness and media, among others. The Academy’s American Sport Art Museum and Archives (ASAMA) annually recognizes these men and women through its Sport Artist of the Year, Honorary Doctorates, Distinguished Service Awards, Outstanding Athletes, and Alumni of the Year awards. This is the 37th year of the Academy’s Awards of Sport program.
